With so many combat robot
builders building so many robots,
it is given that there are going to
be many robots that resemble
each other. Proven and successful
designs are a safe way to go.
However, when I designed my
first combat robot 1.5 years ago,
I had only ever seen one other
insect sized combat robot in my
life. That robot was “Mars
Attacks 2” built by Travis Schmidt
of Rumble Robotics, a coworker
of mine at the time. Before Travis
took up employment with the
company that I worked for, I had
no previous knowledge of
combat robotics outside of the
late TV shows BattleBots and

Robot Wars. But when Travis
brought his robot into work for
me to see, I knew instantly that
I had to build a combat robot.
Without knowing about any
other robot than Travis’, I set out
to design mine.

The destructive capabilities
of a full body spinner were
obvious, but their inability to
operate when inverted was a
huge turn-off for me. It didn’t
take long for me to decide to
build an invertible full body
spinner, or a “ring spinner” as I
learned they are called inside the
sport. Having the outer perimeter
of the robot rotate while keeping
the top and bottom plates
stationary would allow the

Third revision of T6 (center) with
antweight “Metroid” and beetle “Utopia.”